Food & Wine USA - (12)December 2018

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HANDBOOK

30

BEST CARVING TOOLS

CITY HAM 101

SCORE AND GLAZE

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Using a sharp knife, score

ham in a 1-inch diamond

pattern. Place ham on a

rack set inside a roasting

pan. Add 1 cup water to

pan, cover tightly with foil,

and bake in preheated

oven until internal temper-

ature reaches 140°F, 2

hours to 2 hours and 30

minutes. Uncover and

brush liberally with Ruby

Port Ham Glaze (recipe p.

38). Roast, uncovered,

brushing occasionally with

glaze, until glaze has thick-

ened and looks lacquered.

CARVE

Tent ham with foil, and let

rest 30 minutes. Transfer

ham to carving board.

Use carving fork to stabi-

lize ham. Beginning at

one bone end, slice verti-

cally into ham until knife

reaches bone. Repeat

vertical cuts for desired

number of slices.

SERVE

Working from the outside

in, slice horizontally

along the bone to release

slices. Arrange on a

serving platter. Once one

side of ham is fully

carved, flip ham and

repeat slicing procedure

on opposite side. Reserve

bone to make Ham Broth

(recipe p. 38).

DECEMBER 2018

THIS TIME OF YEAR, customers at

Western Daughters, Kate Kavanaugh’s

butcher shop in Denver, ask a lot of

questions about city ham (the term for

wet-brined, briefly aged dinner hams),

from roasting and smoking to scoring

and glazing. No matter how you plan

to serve a ham, the most important

factor, she says, is the quality of the

pig. Source your ham from a butcher

who is transparent about where

their pigs come from and how the

pigs were raised. (See p. 36 for our

favorites.) Once you’ve selected your

ham, here’s how to score, glaze, carve,

and serve it. MADDY SWEITZERLAMMÉ

Slice in style with the

Laguiole en Aubrac

Carving Set. ($250;

williams-sonoma.com)

A grooved board, such

as J.K. Adams Walnut

Rectangle Carving

Board, catches juices for

easy cleanup. ($125;

jkadams.com)

ILLUSTRATIONS: EMILY JOHNSON

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